Wayne Fisher taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

This recording of the Bach D Minor Toccata and Fugue was made on a Schantz organ in Cincinnati, Ohio. The cassette tape does not identify the location, and the date is uncertain.

More of Wayne Fisher's music may be found at http://twbaker.net/

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, K. 565

J.S. Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565.

Wayne Fisher taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

This recording of Handel's Concerto II in B-flat, the Allegro movement, was made on a Schantz organ in Cincinnati, Ohio. The cassette tape does not identify the location, and the date is uncertain. 

The first performance of this concerto took place on March 5, 1735, as part of a performance of Handel's oratorio Esther in the Theater Royal in Covent Garden. Handel played the organ, including the solo sections, with the orchestra, strings plus oboes, joining in for the tutti. This performance is, of course, a transcription for solo organ. The Allegro movement is particularly jolly.

Concerto II in B-flat, Allegro

George Frideric Handel: Concerto II in B-flat, Op. 4, No. 2 (HWV 290), Allegro

Wayne Fisher plays three movements from Hommage à Frescobaldi (1952), by Jean Langlais: 
1. Prélude au Kyrie (Kyrie cunctipotens)
4. Communion (Sacris solemnis)
5. Fantasie (Ite missa est, messe cunctipotens genitor Deus).

This recording was made on a Schantz organ in Cincinnati, Ohio. The cassette tape does not identify the location, and the date is uncertain.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

Hommage à Frescobaldi

Wayne Fisher plays three movements from Hommage à Frescobaldi (1952), by Jean Langlais

Ernst Pepping (1901-1981), Grosses Orgelbuch I, Advent, Weihnachten [Christmas]: Gottes Sohn ist kommen, Vorspiel, Orgelchoral.

Wayne Fisher taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

This recording was made on a Schantz organ in Cincinnati, Ohio. The cassette tape does not identify the location, and the date is uncertain.

Gottes Sohn ist Kommen: Vorspiel, Orgelchoral

Wayne Fisher plays Gottes Sohn ist Kommen (Vorspiel, Orgelchoral) by Ernst Pepping

This verset is the third of four settings of Ave Maris Stella contained in the Vespers of Feasts of the Blessed Virgin (Vêpres du commun des fêtes de la Sainte-Vierge), Op. 18. This verset is marked as an Ornamented Choral in the Style of J.S. Bach. Indeed, it does remind one of Das alte Jahr vergangen ist (BWV 614) or Ich ruf' zu Dir (BWV 639) of the Orgelbüchlein.

These versets correspond to the even-numbered stanzas of the hymn, and thus are designed for performance in an "alternatim" manner. This one represents stanza no 6: 
Vitam præsta puram, iter para tutum, ut videntes Jesum semper collætemur (Bestow a pure life, prepare a safe way, that in seeing Jesus we may ever rejoice).

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

This recording was made on a Schantz organ in Cincinnati, Ohio. The cassette tape does not identify the location, and the date is uncertain.

Ave Maris Stella III.

Wayne Fisher plays Marcel Dupré Ave Maris Stella No. 3 (Op. 18, No. 8)

The Final was published as No. 6 of Six Pieces d'Orgue. It is dedicated to Monsieur Lefébure-Wély, organist of La Madeleine from 1847 to 1858 and then of St Sulpice from 1863 to 1869. In 1859 Lefébure-Wély and Franck together inaugurated the new Cavaillé-Coll organ at Ste Clothilde. 

Wayne Fisher taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

This is a monaural recording. It was made at the Odeon in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1953.

Final, Op. 21

Wayne Fisher plays César Franck Final, Op. 21

Guy Weitz was born in Verviers, Belgium, in 1883. He studied at the Schola Cantorum in Paris with Widor, d'Indy, and Guilmant. He was a professor at the Conservatory of Liege from 1909 until the beginning of the First World War. He fled to London, and was organist at the Farm Street Church (Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street) in Mayfair from 1917 until his retirement in 1967.

Weitz's style owes a great deal to Widor and to Louis Vierne. The Symphony No. 1 dates from 1930, and consists of three movements that honor the Virgin Mary: Regina Pacis, Mater Dolorosa, and Stella Maris. Mater Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows, or the Sorrowful Mother) uses the simple melody for the Stabat Mater, and then the incipit of the Ave Maria at the end.

Wayne Fisher became acquainted with Guy Weitz and his music while he was a student in London in the 1930s, and said that Weitz had been very kind to him, and found him a place to practice.

Wayne Fisher taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

This recording was made at the Odeon in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1959. Unfortunately the sound of the loudest chord is quite distorted on the tape, but the rest is OK.

Mater Dolorosa, from Symphony No. 1

Wayne Fisher plays Mater Dolorosa, from Symphony No. 1, by Guy Weitz (1883-1970)

Montanyas del Roselló: Lo Canigo (Mountains of Roussillon: The Canigou)

Henriette Puig-Roget was born in Bastia, Corsica, in 1910. She began her music studies at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 9. A student of Marcel Dupré, she won six first prizes at the Conservatoire between 1926 and 1930, and was awarded the First Second Grand Prix de Rome in 1933. Puig-Roget was a composer of organ, orchestra, piano, and chamber music. She served from the 30s to the 70s as organist at the Oratoire du Louvre and at the Grand Synagogue of Paris. She was a pianist at the Radio, a teacher of piano accompaniment at the Conservatoire, and director of voice training at the Paris Opera. Daniel Roth was one of her students. In 1979 she relocated to Tokyo, where she taught piano, music theory, and chamber music at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Puig-Roget passed away in Paris in 1992.

Montanyas del Roselló was written for organ and orchestra. It received its premiere in Paris on April 3, 1933, with the composer as soloist. The WorldCat record states that the piece contains two sections: La Miranda de Font Romeú (The Overlook at Font Romeú), and Lo Canigo. The work was arranged for solo organ by the composer.

Roussillon (Roselló) is a historical province of France, located where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean. Roussillon shares a border with Catalunya. Its places have both Catalan and French names. 

The Canigou (Lo Canigo) is a mountain of 2785 meters (9136 feet) in Roussillon only 50 km (31 miles) from the sea. It rises dramatically above the surrounding territory. 

Font-Romeú-Odeillo-Via is a commune in Roussillon which contains one of the oldest ski resorts in France.

This recording was made at St. Luke's in Evanston, Illinois, in the later 1970s. This is the famous E.M. Skinner organ Opus 327, from 1921.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Montanyas del Roselló: Lo Canigo

Wayne Fisher plays Lo Canigo from Montanyas del Roselló by Henriette Puig-Roget

Hans Friedrich Micheelsen (1902-1973)was a North German neo-classic composer of vocal and instrumental music, especially for organ. He was a student of Paul Hindemith in Berlin from 1933 to 1937. Beginning in 1938 he was the Director of the Church Music School of the Hamburg Evangelical Church (Landeskirche). In the 1950s that school was merged into the State Conservatory of Music in Hamburg. Micheelsen was made a Professor, and became the head of its Church Music Department. He retired in 1962.

Micheelsen's Organ Concertos (there are seven of them) are concert pieces for organ without orchestral accompaniment. This one is based on a song from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, "Es sungen drei Engel" (Three Angels were singing), also used by Gustav Mahler. We hear the first movement, the Tokkata.

This is one of the numbers on a recital that Wayne Fisher played at St. Thomas Church in New York City on June 8, 1975. The organ is Aeolian-Skinner Op. 205-A, also identified in the Pipe Organ Database (Organ Historical Society) as Gilbert F. Adams (1969), its sound made famous by Marcel Dupré in his recordings of Widor and Franck and his own music.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department. The picture shows him sitting at the console of the St. Thomas organ.

Tokkata from Organ Concerto No. 2, Op. 34

Wayne Fisher plays Hans Friedrich Micheelsen: Organ Concerto No. 2, Op. 34, I. Tokkata

Charles Tournemire was organist at the Basilica of Ste. Clotilde in Paris, where César Franck had been. L'Orgue Mystique is his grand collection of organ settings of propers of the church year, pieces based on themes taken from the chant melodies of the day. Quasimodo is name for the First Sunday after Easter, because the first word of the Introit for that Sunday is "Quasimodo." This part of L'Orgue Mystique is No. 18 of the Cycle de Pâques (Easter Cycle).

This is one of the numbers on a recital that Wayne Fisher played at St. Thomas Church in New York City on June 8, 1975. The organ is Aeolian-Skinner Op. 205-A, also identified in the Pipe Organ Database (Organ Historical Society) as Gilbert F. Adams (1969), its sound made famous by Marcel Dupré in his recordings of Widor and Franck and his own music.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1985) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

L'Orgue Mystique, Quasimodo, Op. 56

Wayne Fisher plays Charles Tournemire: L'Orgue Mystique, Quasimodo, Op. 56

Seth Bingham, 1882-1972, was a student of Horatio W. Parker, Vincent D'Indy, Charles-Marie Widor, and Alexander Guilmant. He served as the organist of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1913 to 1951. He taught at Yale from 1908 to 1919, at Columbia University until he retired in 1954, and at the Union Theological Seminary, where he taught Advanced Composition.

Published in 1923, Roulade is dedicated to David McK. Williams. A kind of duple-meter scherzo punctuated by fanfares, with a lyrical middle section, it is certainly one of Seth Bingham's most popular and most often programmed works.

This is one of the numbers on a recital that Wayne Fisher played at St. Thomas Church in New York City on June 8, 1975. The organ is Aeolian-Skinner Op. 205-A, also identified in the Pipe Organ Database (Organ Historical Society) as Gilbert F. Adams (1969), its sound made famous by Marcel Dupré in his recordings of Widor and Franck and his own music.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1985) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Roulade

Wayne Fisher plays Seth Bingham: Roulade (Six Pieces, Op. 9, No. 3)

Jean Guillou (1930-2019) was renowned as a composer, organist, pianist, pedagogue, improviser, and consultant in organ design. He was for many years the Titulaire of Saint Eustache in Paris.

Please note: the tape is missing the first bit of No. 6, and there is a short cipher towards the end, which WF manages to bat away.

The 6 Sagas originated as a set of improvisations inspired by the flight of Apollo 8, which happened around Christmas 1968. There was no moon landing, but the astronaut William Anders took the famous photo showing the distant earth rising over the nearby surface of the moon. Guillou's improvisations were recorded and produced as Visions cosmiques.

Each improvisation had a characteristic title. Saga No. 4 had been entitled "Leonardo," and Saga No. 6 "Icare" (Icarus). Those titles were dropped, however, when the improvisations were published as 6 Sagas. (Also, Leonardo had been no. 1 and Icare had been no. 4 of the Visions cosmiques.)

These are two of the numbers on a recital that Wayne Fisher played at St. Thomas Church in New York City on June 8, 1975. The organ is Aeolian-Skinner Op. 205-A, also identified in the Pipe Organ Database (Organ Historical Society) as Gilbert F. Adams (1969), its sound made famous by Marcel Dupré in his recordings of Widor and Franck and his own music.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1985) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Sagas, Nos. 4 and 6

Wayne Fisher plays Jean Guillou: Sagas, Op. 20, Nos. 4 and 6

Wayne Fisher plays four selections from Ernst Pepping's Grosses Orgelbuch I, Advent, Weihnachten [Christmas]:
- Wie soll ich dich empfangen, Vorspiel I
- Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, Vorspiel
- Gottes Sohn ist kommen, Vorspiel
- Gottes Sohn ist kommen, Orgelchoral

Ernst Pepping lived from 1901 to 1981. He is regarded as one of the most important 20th century German composers of Protestant sacred music. These pieces are decidedly gentle and sweet in character.

Wayne Fisher performed these selections as part of a recital that he gave at St. Thomas Church in New York City on June 8, 1975. The organ is Aeolian-Skinner Op. 205-A, also identified in the Pipe Organ Database (Organ Historical Society) as Gilbert F. Adams (1969). Its sound was made famous by Marcel Dupré in his recordings at St. Thomas Church of Widor and Franck and his own music.

Wayne Fisher taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Wayne Fisher plays four selections from Ernst Pepping's Grosses Orgelbuch

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) was a student of César Franck's, a colleague of Widor's and Guilmant's, and a teacher of Joseph Bonnet, Henri Mulet, Marcel Dupré, and Nadia Boulanger. He was the titular organist at Notre Dame in Paris from 1900 to 1937. Sounds grand, but his life was not an easy one. His six symphonies for the organ, nevertheless, are pillars of the organ repertoire. The Fifth is the broadest in scale. The Scherzo, the third of five movements, is playful and concise, yet highly chromatic.

The Vierne Scherzo from Symphony No. 5 was on a recital that Wayne Fisher played at St. Thomas Church in New York City on June 8, 1975. The organ is Aeolian-Skinner Op. 205-A, also identified in the Pipe Organ Database (Organ Historical Society) as Gilbert F. Adams (1969). Its sound was made famous by Marcel Dupré in his recordings of music of Widor and Franck and of his own music.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1985) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Symphony No. 5, III: Scherzo

Wayne Fisher plays the Scherzo from Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 5

Évocation is a three-movement work based on a single theme with several subordinate themes which evolve from the leading motive. Allegro Deciso, the last movement, is a rondo in typical Dupré bravura style.

This recording was made at St. Luke's in Evanston, Illinois, in the later 1970s. This is the famous E.M. Skinner organ Opus 327, from 1921.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Wayne Fisher plays Evocation, 3rd movement: Allegro Deciso, by Marcel Dupré

John Weissrock plays two movements from Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 6: Aria (the 2nd movement), and Final.

Recorded live in concert Nov. 8, 1970.

More of John Weissrock's music may be found at http://twbaker.net/

John Weissrock plays Vierne Symphony No. 6, Aria

Played on the organ of 7th Presbyterian, [Cincinnati]; Moller organ. Date uncertain.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

More of Wayne Fisher's music may be found at http://twbaker.net/

Wayne Fisher performances tape III, side B, first item

Prelude and Trumpetings

Wayne Fisher plays Myron Roberts: Prelude and Trumpetings

Recorded at Christ Church, Cincinnati, Holtkamp organ; recorded 1973.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

More of Wayne Fisher's music may be found at http://twbaker.net/

Fisher performances, tape III, side B, 2nd item

Choral-Improvisation on Victimae Paschali Laudes

Wayne Fisher plays Tournemire: Choral-Improvisation on Victimae Paschali Laudes

John Quincy Bass, piano, was colleague of Wayne Fisher's in Cincinnati. By all accounts he was a truly great pianist. He devoted his life to teaching. This may be his only recording. Fortunately in Ballade the piano has the leading role.

Recorded in 1951 on the Odeon organ in the College of Music.

Fisher performances, tape III, side B, 3rd item

Ballade, Op. 30

Wayne Fisher & John Quincy Bass play Marcel Dupré: Ballade, Op. 30 (1932)

Recorded at St. Paul's Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1973.

Répons pour le temps de Pâques (Response for Eastertide) was written as an Easter postlude. It uses and expands upon Victimae Paschali Laudes.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

More of Wayne Fisher's music may be found at http://twbaker.net/

Répons pour le temps de Pâques (Response for Eastertide)

Wayne Fisher plays Jeanne Demessieux: Répons pour le temps de Pâques

Recorded on the Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Hyde Park Community Methodist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio; a recording of music from the inaugural recital, played by Wayne Fisher on Sept. 20, 1959.

These two chorale preludes are part of Johannes Brahms's last work, Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Two Chorale Preludes, Brahms Op. 122, no. 5 and 4.

Wayne Fisher plays Brahms Op. 122, nos. 5 and 4 (Schmücke Dich, Herzlich Tut Mich Erfreuen)

Recorded at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1973.

Schumann's four Sketches (Skizzen), Op. 58, were composed in 1845 for pedal piano. Schumann had rented a pedal piano in order to learn the fundamentals of organ technique. During this period, along with the Sketches, Schumann also composed his Six Fugues on the Name BACH, Op. 60, and six Studies, Op. 56, which are canonic in form, all for pedal piano. 

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Wayne Fisher plays Robert Schumann: Sketch in F Minor, Op. 58, no. 3

Recorded on the Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Hyde Park Community Methodist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio; a recording of music from the inaugural recital, played by Wayne Fisher on Sept. 20, 1959.

Before Bach embarked on a career as a composer, first at Cöthen, then at Leipzig, he held positions an organist. The cheerful and engaging Prelude and Fugue in D Major, beginning and ending with pedal solos, and with a double pedal part in one place, must have been one of his show pieces.

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532

Wayne Fisher plays the Prelude and Fugue in D Major, by J. S. Bach, BWV 532

Recorded at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1973.

The text "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" (What God ordains is always good) was written by the pietist German poet Samuel Rodigast in 1675. The tune appeared in 1679 in association with other texts, but Pachelbel associated it with Rodigast's hymn in these variations, dated 1683. The text and tune were published together for the first time in Nuremberg in 1690, and by 1708 "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" had become one of the best known hymns of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Germany. Pachelbel's fourth variation is particularly striking because of its gentle chromaticism. Perhaps he was picturing the fifth stanza of the hymn: 
"Whate’er my God ordains is right
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart."

Wayne Fisher (1910-1975) taught organ for many years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and served as chairman of the organ department.

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